Aspirations and Networks of Italian Migrants to Bogota. A Typology

Angela Delli Paoli; Domenico Maddaloni

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.21.1.01

Authors

Angela Delli Paoli University of Salerno, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1463-2573
Domenico Maddaloni University of Salerno, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1312-2299

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.21.1.01

Keywords:

Aspirations, Mediators, Migration, Italy, Bogota, Typology

Abstract

This paper aims to understand the individual and relational motives supporting migration from Italy to Bogota. Our concern is to achieve a nuanced understanding of how aspirations, on the one hand, and social networks, on the other, shape migratory decisions and structure in broader migration patterns. To do this, we chose a qualitative approach based on narrative interviews with Italians living in Bogota, which were selected through snowball sampling. As a result, we produced a typology of five different migration pathways: globetrotters aspiring to international mobility with no mediators supporting their process of continuous migration; careerists who accept moving on demand of their company for advancing their career supported by professional mediators; risk-takers aspiring to professional independence and supported in their entrepreneurial project by weak ties; tied migrants aspiring to better family quality of life and supported by strong familial ties; and exiled migrants who find a refuge from the difficulties they encounter in Italy and supported by strong professional ties.

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Author Biographies

Angela Delli Paoli, University of Salerno, Italy

Angela Delli Paoli is a researcher (tenure-track) at the Department of Humanities, Philosophy, and Education (University of Salerno), where she teaches Sociology and Social Research Methods and coordinates the International Lab for Innovative Social Research (ILIS). She was a visiting researcher at the London Business School (UK), a visiting professor at the University of Finance and Administration of Prague, and a visiting lecturer at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. From 2010 to 2017, she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Sociology (University of Salerno). She participated as a senior researcher and an expert evaluator in several European (Horizon 2020 interim evaluation, Eurofound expert groups), national, and regional expert groups. She also acts as an independent evaluator for the European Commission General Directorate for Research and Innovation and the European Commission Research Executive Agency (REA). Her research interests are qualitative and quantitative social research methods. She authored monographic studies, several essays, book chapters, and articles published in national and international academic journals on digital social research, digital ethnography, migration, and non-normative identities.

Domenico Maddaloni, University of Salerno, Italy

Domenico Maddaloni is a full professor of Sociology at the University of Salerno, Department of Political and Communication Sciences. He is the Head of the Sociology Unit at the Athens Institute of Education and Research (ATINER). He is also a fellow at the Italian National Research Council—Research Institute on Population and Social Policies (CNR-IRPPS). He is currently the Leader of the UNISA-IT Team in the framework of the Horizon Research Project TRUEDEM—Trust in European Democracies. In the last few years, he has been working in the fields of social and political change and international migration, making use of qualitative social research techniques.

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